September 11, 2005

What Has This Day Become?

I wonder what kind of day September 11 is going to become from now on. Sutter Creek, official hometown of Craigorian Chant, has lined Main Street with flags as is tradition for memorial Day, 4th of July, and so on. But it doesn't have the feel of a real National Day. I don't think that September 11 will ever be a holiday or a day off. But September 11 is being remembered in a way other tragedies are not. I doubt anyone will commemorate August 29 as the day Katrina hit land. September 11 is fading in the national memory as Katrina shows us that an American tragedy is not a unique occurrence and the Iraq debacle has called into question our response to that day. I'm trying to think how the attack on Pearl Harbor would be remembered if we attacked Argentina instead of Japan, and got bogged down in a bloody stalemate. September 11 is going to have a messy history when it all gets written down, and that will never make for a good holiday.